Sex offender pleads guilty to not registering

By BRAD WONG, P-I REPORTER

Updated
10:00 pm PDT, Wednesday, May 30, 2007

A Seattle man has pleaded guilty to failing to register as a sex offender, becoming the first person in Western Washington to be charged with the crime under a recent federal law, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported.

Under a plea agreement reached Friday, Wesley Gray, 50, said he would accept five years in prison and 15 years of supervised release. Gray, who recently had been living near Lake Union, was convicted of child rape in Pierce County in 1990.

He also lived in California. But after he returned to the state in 2003 and received a driver's license in 2004, he failed to register as a sex offender, said Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle.

The Adam Walsh Act, enacted in July 2006, requires that he register with authorities, she said. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik is expected to issue Gray's sentence on Sept. 21.

The plea agreement did not state why Gray failed to register as an offender, Langlie said. He has agreed to receive sex offender treatment while in prison, she added.

Gray is at least the third person in Western Washington to be pursued in recent months under Project Safe Childhood. The project is a national effort by the Department of Justice to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.